10 Books I Thought I’d Love The Socks Off But Instead…No

As a vivacious reader who devours 200+ books a year, you think I would be really good at knowing what books to pick, right?!

Well. Wrong, my friend, so so wrong.

This is because I have 3 problems,summarised as:(A) I want to read all the books of ever and how can I skip one because what if I miss something???? I can’t miss anything???? and (B)due to reading 200+ books a year I KNOW QUALITY WHEN I SEE IT, hence I have very high expectations and demands…this isn’t bad, it just lands me reading a lot of gnarly books; and lastly (C)I have the compassionate range of a piece of bread so it’s hard to get me emotionally invested in anything really.

I mean, there is emotional bread out there, probably???? But I’m the stale gluten free kind that you can’t eat without toasting after Day #1 or you’ll die.

Needless to say, I read a lot of books that I think I’ll like but I really really really really don’t.

My bad.

Today I’m going to list 10 of them and I’m not going to rant or be angry! I’m just going to mention why I thought I’d love them but then did not. And this is the Top Ten Tuesday prompt from last week because I didn’t do it last week because WRITING. * And apparently they’ve gone on break. HOW DARE THEY THO, SON. I WAS JUST ON BREAK??? NOW THEY’RE ON BREAK???? WE DID NOT COORDINATE THIS WELL.

Also, obvious statement: but if you love a book I mention, THAT’S AWESOME. I STILL LOVE YOU. But discussing disappointments is part of the book blogger’s life, ** so here we go anyway.

* Hey look! You can read snippets of my ghostly Phantom of the Opera retelling wherein I wrote two books when I thought I was just going to write one because #obsessed.
** Well it’s part of my book bloggers life because I know no bookworms in real life except my mother who reads 900 page romance novels and I just…???? Sorry, Mum. But where are the zombies and how do you stand NINE HUNDRED PAGES of romance????

1. AN EMBER IN THE ASHES

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: I adore fantasy!! And this one promised to be super stabby with a whole Roman-slash-stab thing going on, with rebels and soldiers and a starcrossed romance and dARKNESS.

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: Well. It use the violence rather pointlessly. Like “let’s have everyone in the academy kill each other LOL @ YOU ALL” which is completely dumb because how do you expect to build an army if you only keep the best??? Dude. You use the non-best soldiers to go out in the front lines???? Has no one ever thought about military strategy before??? And it basically threatened rape on every second page. I’M NOT HERE FOR THIS. Plus why were the starcrossed lovers even attracted???? The emotionless bread strikes again.

2. ASSASSIN’S HEART

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: I do so like assassins and fantasy-esque-Mafia-families!

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: Well. It features a simply horrible assassin who spends chapter one telling me how GOOD SHE IS only to nearly die because SHE’S REALLY QUITE STUPID. I also fall apart at the bit where everyone was wearing masks to “protect their identity” but they all wore specific masks so you knew who they were. “Like oh there’s the tiger stripes, that’s uncle Bob!” WHY ARE WE WEARING MASKS THEN. It was just all rather tediously frustrating for me.

3. RED QUEEN

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Because everyone else does?!? Haha. I’m terrible when it comes to hype. I want all the hype. But this sounded cool and like QUEENS. I like queens. I need tips obviously for my own career.

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: Because it’s literally a mashup of EVERY dystopian ever and takes very heavily from The Selection, Red Rising, Xmen, and The Hunger Games. Where is the originality?? Hath it flown away on the back of a small dove??? Plus it has a love-square, was super cliche, had a special snowflake of angst, and a girl named after a horse. I just want not.

4. RUIN & RISING (#3)

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Because I absolutely ADORED the first two books in the series!! They are my life!! My little Grisha Russian-esque-fantasy children!!

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: what. even. happened. here. I think I could be just summarised as being “an angry burnt scone” at this point. First off, mY SHIP SUNK. Then no one really achieved much because Alina was too busy being a Saint. Then they shoved off a character I loved dearly with a really dumb plot twist. THEN MY SHIP SUNNNNNK. So I’m just mad, basically. I’ll reread the perfection that is Crooked Kingdom 10000 times to make myself forget this.

5. THE NOVICE

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Because FANTASY. Do you see a theme here??? I see a fantasy, and I just gotta eat it. Also I like reading books narrated by boys and they’re surprisingly mythical creatures to find. Plus that cover, dude. If only I looked that badass in jeans and a hoodie.

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: Well. It was cliche. It was like Tolkien fanfic but with very angsty children who CAN DO IT ALL BY THEMSELVESSSSS BECAUSE THEY’RE SMARRRRRT. #NotReallyNo Orphans, special snowflakes, cringey quips, you know the drill…I knew the drill so well I fell asleep.

6. 100 DAYS OF CAKE

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: I should’ve known since she dropped the cake. This book was basically like trying to give me cake and then throwing it on the ground in front of me. For starters: you could take the cake out of the story because IT DID NOTHING TO THE PLOT and she doesn’t even really like eating the cake. Next it has a mega creepy therapist-client-romance (pls no never ever) and it’s tedious and sad and saaaaad and SAD. My….cake….

ME

7. WINTERSPELL

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Because RETELLING OF NUTCRACKER. Like I am darn sick of Cinderella retellings, folks. I want more ballets and obscure folk tales. Plus that cover is gorgeous. If only she doesn’t accidentally stab herself in the throat. Like, darling, the aesthetic is nice, but you must not hold a blade like that, my little cupcake.

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: Well. It was boring. And also quite sensual and when I read it BACK WHEN I WAS A SMALL CHILD (like 3 years ago but whatever) I wasn’t used to New Adult-esque levels of steamy. I probably wouldn’t care now. But the boring part is still an issue. And she was making out with a statue????? Dude, what is with that. I’m about to beat someone to death with a breadstick here.

8. THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Well it said EATING so I have rights to assume there would be food in here.

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: No food, mate, no food. Her mother did the sin eating so it had exactly 0% of an effect on her life. Apparently she just touched people and they died, except she was locked in a temple so not a lot was going on. Oh, she did sewing and fell in love with a guard. Wow look at all these strong female heroines who can do stuff for themselves and have worth outside of romance.

9. THE WELL OF ASCENSION (#2)

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Because I really liked The Final Empire! Even if it was a bit slow. But heists and things yay!

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: IT WAS SO MIND-NUMBLINGLY BORING I ACTUALLY PREFERRED THROWING MYSELF INTO THE VORTEX OF SPACE DESTRUCTION THAN READING IT. Look. I’m sorry. I said I wouldn’t be ragey. I promised. I apologise. It’s just that this book was slow and incredibly sexist and problematic and then to top it off, someone on twitter started a hate thread about me because of my dislike of this book. Which lead to losing friends, follows, being called really vile names, etc etc etc. That really gets to ya, you know? If people aren’t mature enough to realise everyone can have different opinions because we are not a hive mind then — DON’T BE ON THE INTERNET.

10. THRONE OF GLASS SERIES

WHY I THOUGHT I’D LOVE IT: Because I 100000% loved the first two books. There was food and puppies and super strong and fierce friendship and Celaena put the SASS in assassin.

WHY I WAS OH SO WRONG: Now I know so many people love this series and if you do I’M HAPPY FOR YOU. But I can’t with the way Celanea just turned around and spat on friendship unless it profited her. That’s not friendship. Friendship is sacred and how dare you. I’m miffed by the whole “Caleana and Chaol said they were each other’s heart and home but LOL @ YOU THAT WAS 2 PAGES AGO AND NOW SHE WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH HER COUSIN”. I can’t with how every male is in love with her and how they kill off the only diverse character and cut disabled characters out of the story line. It went from a series I felt empowered reading, to one I wanted to cry over because #betrayal.

But again:

IF YOU LOVE IT, I’M HAPPY FOR YOU. My perspective isn’t going to be the same as yours!! Thank goodness we are all different!! It makes us humans with brains instead of unripe avocados who do not think for themselves!!!

is there a book YOU picked up thinking you’d adore it but then….a decided #nope?? agree with any on my list?? any particularly gorgeous covers let you down?? LET US TALK!

Comments

Oh no! You are making me have second thoughts.Ruin and Rising is on my TBR. And I am reading Final empire now. So far I am liking it if not loving it. But now I am confused if The well of ascension would be a disappointment.
PS: I liked An ember in ashes though

I still think Ruin and Rising is worth the read!! Just for…closure? I just am a picky grapefruit.😂 I get so mad when my ships don’t sail, I’m ridiculous.😂 I’m glad you liked Ember in the Ashes! I’m definitely a minority for not adoring it. 😜

And I think it’s totally okay to love some of these books, but yeah, there are just a lot of problematic things I can’t overlook personally. We shall eat all the cake of condolences together. *nods sadly*

OMG, I’m so with you!
I honestly DO NOT understand why people loved An Ember in the Ashes and Red Queen as much as they did. Have we missed some memo everyone else got or something? I feel completely left out ‘^^
Also, I’m still so sad about The Grisha Trilogy! I absolutely LOVED the first book. And when I was about to read the second one? I was spoilered about the ending of Ruin & Rising. Needless to say, I was so frustrated over my ship not happening that I decided to end things with book 1. *sigh*.

I’m actually properly scared of reading Throne of Glass from the sheer hype of it. I also loved The Final Empire and never continued onward with the series. And… although I heard of them, I haven’t read any of the other books you mentioned. Nor do I think I will ^_^

Great post, Cait! You definitely have an ally in me if you ever want to vent over books that disappointed you 😉

I had the same reaction to Red Queen. I think there was a lot of hype around it so maybe I just had inappropriately high expectations? I just couldn’t like it. I did like An Ember in the Ashes. Although I am not sure the main characters belong together. Maybe they should just become close friends?

It was SO hyped?!? Like so so so sooooo hyped. It was insane.😂 I just expected it to at least be original haha. And YES I shipped Elias and Helene….I can’t even remember the other girl’s name but that ship was a definite no go for me.😂

An Ember in the Ashes is such a hyped book and I was excited for it. I was super excited for it! But then I read a rape-mention in a review before and I’m like: nope. not reading this. I’ve only read the first two books of the Throne of Glass series and now you’re making me doubt. I even have until the Queen of Shadows. Will still read it, I guess since I have it…

Also, you got me at Red Queen: ‘a girl named after a horse.’ — something no one ever pointed out and now I’m just laughing at it!

I think for Throne of Glass…you either get passed Crown of Midnight and love it MORE or really hate it.😂 So I do hope you like it but I shall be here if you need to cry because it fails expectations. *prepares the cupcakes*

Fantastic list as always, Cait! I honestly enjoyed Ember in the Ashes and Red Queen as much as the next fan girl but oh boyyyy, the sequels to both of those books are disappointing! I found myself despising the female MC in A Torch Against the Night and rooting for the other characters instead and Glass Sword was just asdfghjkl BIG NO from me </3 and yes to Ruin and Rising! I adored the magnificent second book that is Siege and Storm so much but this one…. let's stay Ruin and Rising made me wary of Six of Crows but thank God that series turned out to be 1000000x better hahaha 😛 also yes to ToG. I still read it out of sheer curiosity but honestly think the series reached its peak with Crown of Midnight and everything that came after that just went downhill 🙁 Some books that didn't live up to my expectations : The Star Touched Queen, The Bone Season, Vassa in the Night ahaha

I’m glad you liked them!! Even if the sequels didn’t work out for you. Agh, sequels can be so terrifying right?!? Such hit or miss.🙈🙊

SIEGE AND STORM IS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING AHHHHHHH. ❤️ Help me I think I’m in love with Nikolai. (Hence I was so mad at R&R.) And it did make me wary of SoC too, but luckily I’m hopelessly in love with that one too. And Crooked Kingdom was such a perfect finale so my faith is totally renewed.

SAME ABOUT TOG!! Crown of Midnight was amazing and then…what even.😂

I’m with you for The Star Touched Queen and The Bone Season too. I was actually hopelessly confused for both?!?

It’s not often that I stop reading a book, and I was looking forward to reading the Imposter Queen, sure I would love it, but when I started… I don’t know, we just didn’t click; which was sad because I really wanted to flail over it. *shrugs* Oh well! The cover is pretty cool at least. XD
I’m sorry that you didn’t like An Ember in the Ashes! I don’t adore it but I found it enjoyable. I get some of the points you made though; there were some issues I had with it, like the romance.
Awesome list and gorgeous photos, as always! 😀

I AM SO AGREE ON RED QUEEN. It was so hyped up?? It was my first read in 2013 (or 2014 2015)? First read are supposed to be amazing, but NO, this book is very unoriginal and boring with unecessary and no chemistry romance. Like, Mare has 3 love interest, none of them have chemistry for her! I heard the 2nd book is even worse tho? I don’t regret not continuing the series. In related thing with Red Queen… I thought I would love Red Rising! But I can’t even finish it or read it past 50%… The world building is just too vague to me and the writing feels choppy? I’m so sad that I didn’t enjoy it.

YAS THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT TOO!!😂 How can she have so many guys after her but yet…no chemistry?!?😂 Ah. I didn’t even bother trying the next book. Life is too short and my TBR is about to strangle me.

I did really really love Red Rising, but it definitely isn’t a book for everyone. Also it was first marketed as YA but I think it’s totally adult???

I did not love an ember in the ashes either. I have read your review and not going to buy it, but I changed my mind when the publisher who published the indonesia version gave bookmark set if I ordered at PO season. But you are right, Cait..
I only read first chapter of Red queen and decided that I did not like it.

1. I’ve read none of these books.
2. There are books that I found disappointing, like, The Fault In Our Stars, because it was an okay book, but didn’t overwhelm me. Or countless books by German authors who have a similar make-up like popular books and basically the same jacket texts, but they’re not half as interesting reads. But that’s for really bad no-name books that don’t deserve translations to any other language.
For popular books, idk, but I think for me it’s at least slightly safe, when they’re translated, because at least it means it’s not terrible.
I guess high expectations do ruin a lot, for example I didn’t get all giddy over Magnus Chase even though I liked it, and I think I loved the Hunger Games especially because I read them before I knew they were really popular and didn’t have too high expectations in them,

I actually read The Hunger Games before they were wildly popular too! *hi fives* I even read them before I was book blogging properly so I had zero expectations or knowledge of any spoilers and it was soooooo good.😂

It was a little while ago but yes…SOMETIMES I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE INTERNET. Clearly they spilt their cupcakes that morning. It was very petty. Buuuut anyway. We gotta just ignore the haters and move on, right?! *shares cake with you*

*dramatic flailing* I’m so shocked that you didn’t like the Well of Ascension! Then again, I am a little bias because Brandon Sanderson is my favourite author ( although this series was the one that introduced me to him ). I’m really sorry that you had a twitter hate thread made about you though! No one deserves that, especially if you put an opinion out there that literally harms NO ONE in any shape or form. SMH some people these days.

I’m kind of at a loss at what to do with an ember in the ashes, I kind of want to read it . . . but I also kind of want to sell it. Help!

I REALLY love Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart books though!! So that makes up for it a bit, right!??😜 And I honestly think I won’t be reading more Sanderson just because of all the really bad memories I have tied to it now…so it’s really disappointing that twitter can do that to a bookworm.😭 People do need to chill. That’s for sure! 😂

I think everyone knows how I feel about Sarah J Maas. and no matter what people say, I am just not going to read her books anymore. There are many problems that I have with her books and the way she deals with things – that I won’t change my mind.
I felt very similar to you about Assassin’s Heart – it was one of those big no, books for me.

Haha I love your tone in basically every post, but this one is gold. The Sin Eater’s Daughter and Throne of Glass were on my list. So maybe I will still end up picking them up, but I can confidently pass on the others 🙂 Love your posts 😀

Great post! I totally get what you mean about the Well of Ascension – it was entirely different from the first book. Thankfully I still enjoyed it because I also like politics in fantasy but I can’t believe someone started a hate thread about you because of it! It sucks 🙁 *gives you hugs and cake*

I’ve only read three on the list (I’m going to count the TOG series as one, I guess), and I loved all three of them. I actually loved An Ember in the Ashes, but Red Queen everyone really seemed to hate when it came out on Goodreads (and still hates). 😂 Throne of Glass everyone seems to love or hate, and I’m on the love side. I feel like I’ve just gotten used to people saying they hate Throne of Glass so much it’s just rolled off me at this point.

None of the others are on my TBR, so I actually think I’m good here! 😂 Either that, or I’m just simply not reading enough books.

Oh no, I have to reread the Mistborn series, I remember loving it! (Have you tried the Stormlight Archive? Because that’s Fantasy with a big F 😍😍🙌✨)
For me the most recent one I thought I’d love was Caraval 😩😩 I really wanted to like it, but it had everything I don’t like unfortunately.

I haven’t read any of these but I can totally understand not liking a book I thought I would love. To name just a few;
Eleanor & Park (The hype over this made my expectations WAY too high. I just could not see the appeal, I almost DNFd it )
Anna and the French Kiss ( I loved the setting but the characters and the whole plot were just awful!)
Gone Series (I convinced myself I liked these books even after I struggled to read the first 3 and finally halfway through the 4th I said to myself “Why are you forcing yourself to read AND like these books?Just because everyone else likes them does not mean you have to – STOP BEING A SHEEP!)

I think Eleanor and Park was cute but WAY overhyped.😂I didn’t really get it at all haha. And i really liked the Gone series, but I read them pre-blogging so I don’t know if I’d still love them now that I’ve read so much more.😂

A book that I thought I would adore was A Court of Mist and Fury. The first book was pretty bad but as soon as this book came out everyone and their mum were raving about it. I heard/read so many people say that it was already their fave book of the year/all time so I was so prepared to love it. But… /sigh/

I didn’t like Feyre (special snowflake), and I didn’t like the changes Maas made to Rhys’s character. I’m also wasn’t interested in the romance, which made up like 90% of this book. Basically I felt like ACOMAF was just about Rhys and Feyre growing from enemies to friends to lovers to mates, and the whole Hybern war thing was just the backdrop so that it didn’t seem like she was a romance/erotica novel or something.

Something that I recently realised is that I tend to not care about/dislike otps that Sarah J Maas actively ships in her books (the only exception being Chaol and Celeana in Crown of Midnight (but I don’t ship them anymore; only in that book)).

I didn’t connect with any of Rhy’ss inner circle at all and found them to be of little interest, and pretty much disliked everyone else (though I only thought Lucien was pitiful).

Sorry for the rant. I love the Throne of Glass series (though I was a bit disappointed in EoS since it has major similarities with ACOMAF) so I really wanted to love this series too. I’m a bit conflicated about whether or not to read the next book ACOWAR mainly because I want closure (I hate not finishing series) but since I didn’t like the first two books…. Either way I’m definitely not continuing after the third book (((((((((unless it’s a really interesting story line))))))))).

I didn’t even BOTHER trying ACOMAF to be honest…😂I’m so done with all SJM books at this point haha. And the whole pendulum-personality swings that SJM puts all her characters through?!? It’s completely disorientating and ugh I hate it. Character development still needs consistency!! I don’t blame you for the rant at all.😂

I thought that I’d really love Our Chemical Hearts, because it was about the editors of a high school newspaper and I am the editor of a highschool newspaper. But no, sadly. They cared more about romance than the newspaper, which I just can’t. Look, I had a newspaper co-editor and he was useless and I didn’t fall in love with him and also I subtly suggested to him to leave because he was not helpful and he did. I was also really disappointed by A world without Princes, because it was a hot mess, and Milk and Honey because I just didn’t connect with it. Despite being pretty, Something-in Between and Vicious weren’t what I wanted them to be.

Throne of Glass series. I understand. I feel your pain. I feel your additional pain that half you mini-rant was apology because Throne of Glass has serious passionate fans AND HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE THIS BOOK FOREVER AND EVER ARE YOU A HEARTLESS MONSTER. *ahem*. 🙂 I thought it was tacky and underwhelming, too…. Oh well! On to the next thing!

Okay so I was disappointed by An Ember In The Ashes as well, but then I decided to give it a second chance and read the second book, AND OMG. IT WAS AMAZING. Honestly the second book was stunning in the best way possible. The Red Queen series gets better as well.
When I read Snuff by Terry Pratchett, I thought I was going to love it, because I’d loved his other books……BAHAHAHAHA. I HATED IT. It was so boring. Luckily I still like and read his other books.

Ooh, that kind of tempts me to try the second book.😂Although I’ve forgotten SO MUCH from the first book that I’d have to reread and I don’t really feel like it atm haha. BUT I’LL PUT IT ON THE CONSIDERATION PILE. *nods*

It happened yet again, m’dear Cait. When I saw your new post in my reader, I thought, WHAT SHE POSTED SOMETHING??? OMG YAYAYAYAYAY XD

Red Queen was okay for me, but Glass Sword was just terrible. I want to read King’s Cage just to see how it ends, really. And in hopes that it will somehow be really good??? And AGH I’ve been meaning to read fhe Grisha trilogy! I read SoC first because I’d heard a lot of bad things about the trilogy, but after reading Crooked Kingdom (and its spoilers for the Grisha trilogy whoops) I decided to add it to my TBR. BUT I SHALL STILL PESERVERE.

I was actually never interested in An Ember in the Ashes in the first place??? The only reason I’d heard of it was because I went to a book festival and Sabaa Tahir was there, sooo.

I can’t remember any books right now… OH yes! The Matched trilogy by Allie Condie. I knew there was a love triangle, but I still tried. And… blech. Matched was okay, Crossed was bad, and Reahed was so boring I didn’t even finish it. *sigh*

I thought The Sin-Eater’s Daughter was okay (still haven’t gotten round to the second one though). Throne of Glass is a series that I feel like I should start at some point, but I’m not really sure it’ll be my cup of tea.

Mob mentality got me with red queen too. Honestly, it was like the end of beauty and the beast with Gaston storming the castle and I *had* to have them. But fell flat for me too. Guess 40 Frenchmen can be wrong *nods*.
(Hasn’t stopped me from buying the next two but ive yet to read them) I’m a sucker for pretty covers tho.

I hated An Ember In The Ashes! The “romance” was super forced and super wut; there was so much unnecessary violence; and Helene 100% did not deserve any of the stupid crap Elias put her through. And the way the government did everything was just sooooo overdramatic. I am just not the biggest fan of “everything is terrible and awful and our characters will end up more broken than a crumbled cracker IF they survive”.

I SO AGREE!! Helene was the most precious and I don’t understand why she and Elias weren’t a pair?! They had chemistry and backstory and just made SENSE. And the actual world building was ridiculous. Like who was in their armies??? No one apparently since only like 3 kids ever made it out of training.

I feel you with this post Cait. SO MUCH. Though I have to mention that I actually loved Assassin’s Heart, The Novice and Ruin and Rising. Also I haven’t read some of these at all. (And I secretly don’t want to either… *cough*An Ember in the Ashes*cough*)

BUT I have to agree with The Sin-Eater’s Daughter which I DNF’ed because #soverybored and I liked Red Queen when I first read it but now I hate it.

AND so much yes with the Throne of Glass series. I loved the first two books but then it lost me in Heir of Fire. 837372 POV’S and 923728821 guys loving Celaena and I just can’t anymore. Go away. Others are free to adore it to bits but I just don’t.

*shares cake with you for our agreements* 😂 And Red Queen just had a ton of problems haha, I just couldn’t help feeling like it was just piecing together SO many other books. Oops. And SAME with Throne of Glass! I’m not going to glare at someone for loving it, but I can only see the problems now.😂

There have been so many gorgeous cover that let me down in the past. I admit it, it’s probably my fault for judging the book by it’s cover, but they’re sooo pretty! lol! I haven’t gotten a chance to read any of the ones on your list yet but quite a few of them are on my TBR list. I own Red Queen but haven’t started it yet. We’ll see how it goes! lol Great list

Too much hype is definitely a dangerous thing! And so are beautiful covers and books called fantasy… because it’s no guarantee that we’ll actually like the book.
I actually did like An Ember in the Ashes, Red Queen and the Throne of Glass series. But that said, I still completely understand your points! I mean, it’s possible to like something and still be aware of its’ flaws. But that there would really be people that start hate threads because someone didn’t like one of their fave books? Ugh, it constantly surprises me that people could be so disrespectful and I’m sorry you had to deal with that!
I am a bit wary about starting The Well of Ascension though, because I did love The Final Empire, but the books are so huge and I don’t want to spend time reading a boring book… Ah, guess I’ll just have to start (someday) and see what happens 🙂

I know right?!? And I just realised how many of these are fantasies.😂I obviously have VERY high expectations for fantasy because it’s my favourite genre, haha.

And I agree! It’s possible to love books with faults…and sometimes faults are so subjective anyway! And agh, yes, the internet can be completely immature. The worst part is I’ve been scared off reading certain books. *sighs* But I’ll get over it!😂

I agree with the Red Queen thing…it borrows from other books, BUT I still keep reading and buying them because I want to support Victoria Aveyard; she’s super vocal on social media about really big issues, and doesn’t really do the “I don’t want to talk about this potentially problematic thing because I might loose readers” thing. And, y’know, we need more people like that, especially now, and I’m happy to buy books that I only sort of like but still find entertaining to support her.

I totally get that and that’s really nice of you!! I don’t ever intend to hate on authors just because I don’t like their books anyway…but I honestly do feel like the Red Queen series is dangling quite close to plagiarism. eep. But then, there’s no such thing as “wholly original” anyway!

I’m so sad the throne of glass series was disappointing for you! I’ve just read the first two books but I’m nervous to read heir of fire because I’ve heard that’s where it all goes downhill. But then I want to finish the series because I have this weird thing about finishing series. I also still need to read the grisha trilogy so it doesn’t fill me with hope that you didn’t like that last book! I hate when that happens, I always feel like I’ve just wasted my time! I haven’t read any of the other books on your list though so maybe I should just avoid them and save myself some book heartbreak! Great list!

I’ve never read Winterspell, but now I kind of want to? Not because of your glowing review, but because NUTCRACKER!! I’m working on a series of fantasy re-tellings, and just a few days ago I realized I absolutely need to add in Nutcracker into that mix. I must find more!

And the way it ended was so shit. I mean, the two main characters are supposed to be a loving, married couple and yet, when the end comes, all they do is lie down near each other and hold hands. What?! There was absolutely NO passion in that relationship and it bugged me to NO end.

WE ARE NOT A HIVE MIND! YESSS!! People don’t realize that we can have different opinions. But,,, I do have your same opinions about Red Queen and The Assasin’s Heart. I hated them. Like lots. The girl in Assasin’s heart thought she was being all special snowflake and was instead just boring and annoying. And Red Queen…. What a rip off.

SOMEONE ELSE WHO DOESN’T LIKE THRONE OF GLASS! I thought the day would never come! I agree – I thought the first two were great. And then I was SO SAD and DISAPPOINTED when it came to the third book. Then they started introducing new characters with their own chapters and I was like ??? I’m still getting over the heartbreak of all the old characters, you can’t distract me with this!

Red Queen is another obvious one. 1000000% agree with The Selection thing, and how it felt like any other book possible. I was so agitated with it. I actually got it confused with The Selection and ToG because I read them all in a row. Whoooops.

Other books I thought I would like would be Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and Everland by Wendy Spinale. Those were some of the worst books I read last year.

I am sooo meh about The Throne of Glass series, I’m happy I’m not the only one. I was at BN the other day and that series literally was taking up two shelves. THERE ARE ONLY 5 (?) BOOKS, WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY COPIES BOOK STORES?

the only reason I haven't done it by now is I don't know how to get the point across without specifically naming you, which I don't want to because I don't want you to get more backlash. BUT STILL. NO ONE MESSES WITH MY FRIENDS *dragon puff of smoke*

SO IT’S NOT JUST ME WHO IS AN EMOTIONLESS PIECE OF BREAD. I mean…I have emotions…obviously…as I read about fictional death and very rarely care…while my friends cry their eyes out… Very few fictional pieces have succeeded in getting me emotionally involved, so I find a lot of literature boring. I WANT EMOTIONS *sobs without being sad*

But for me, the Throne of Glass series was a disappointment. Because everyone loves it and were like the characters are amazing and so goooood. And yes, I like Celeana and all, but it didn’t really do anything for me. Another disappointment was actually the Harry Potter series. Maybe it’s because I read them halfway through high school, but I thought they’d be these amazing books given all the hype surrounding them. And yes, I liked them, but it was like “……I expected more.”

Also, I haven’t been able to be as bookwormy as I was before I went to school, so I’m a little out of touch with the new good reads…..any good recommendations from any age/genre?

YAS WE CAN BE EMOTIONAL STALE PIECES OF BREAD TOGETHER. *hi fives* And honestly I get emotions from books quite often but not like STRONG emotions (although I do have some right now because I finished and incredible book😂) and a book has never made me sob. Ever. I think I shed a tear once??? And that was probably because I was sick while reading haha.

I actually *whispers* agree about Harry Potter. I do like them! But I’m just not a rabid fan like everyone else?? I’m too annoyed that Snape was allowed to be a teacher when he was emotionally abusing children. Like wut even to the school there.

I definitely recommend A Darker Shade of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab! They’re ALL out and the most absolutely incredible books of life. Also the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater!!

Completely agree with Ruin and Rising. I felt like the ending to the trilogy made it pointless to read the books to begin with. It was a unique way to finish a story but I’m still slightly upset with it. I’m also mad that a fav character from the story changed into something stupid and pretty much disappeared from the story until the very end *queue eye roll* haha.

Thank you so much! When I speak against Red Queen, people normally do not understand. I , however, felt the same way. Red Queen felt like highlights of every dystopia: The Selection, Ignite Me, The Hunger Games, and a few others. I wanted to enjoy it; however, I simply could not.

This cracks me up. I adore Red Queen and Ember in the Ashes, but I agree and feel the same way about the why not to like it, too. IT’S SO STRANGE. It’s like: I acknowledge/accept the not so good and very true, but I love them anyways.

I’m in a love-love-hate relationship with Red Queen. Mare is indeed a horse, there is extreme borrowing from the Selection, the Hunger Games, and X-men (yay for me not being the only one to notice this) . Special lightning snowflake and all other types of special snowflakes. But I still love it? haha. It’s like a bad drug that I know is bad and I can’t help but keep reading.

That’s fair and honestly the best thing to do! It’s okay to love books with faults, I think *nods* And I have to remind myself of series that I ADORE that definitely have problematic areas that it’s ok to love them so long as we acknowledge the problems, right? If that makes sense.😂

I feel the same about the Throne of Glass series except I never got around to reading the third book. I really enjoyed reading the first two (kept my mind off not having a job after college), but clearly I didn’t love it as much as I thought I did because I wasn’t twitching to pick up where I left off.

I thought I was all by myself with my opinions on Ember!! The romance was totally emotionless and the rape threats got seriously old. And Ruin and Rising was SUCH a disappointment after the first two. Which is partially why I haven’t taken the plunge and started Six of Crows yet.

I agree about the Throne of Glass series. Okay, so I’ve only read the first one. And a little bit of the second. But I’ve gotten the gist of the rest from reading other people’s reviews, and I’m really glad I didn’t continue. It sounds like an overblown fan-fiction now, with the author doing stuff just because she wants to, and not because it makes sense for the story or characters. (But we’re in the minority here, as I’m sure you’re aware.)

I thought I’d like A Monster Calls, but I couldn’t get through it. I thought Unwind would be good, but some of the plot points just had me scratching my head. And I thought Scarlet would be really good because everybody said, “It’s way better than Cinder! It’s my favourite book in the series!” And then I was just bored, bored, bored. So… yeah, I have disappointments. Unfortunately, they always seem to be for books that everybody else loves!

Agh, I mean, I feel torn?? Because I think an author should genuinely have control over what she writes and do whatever she wants! I do with my writing. But it just feels like there are SO many personality pendulum swings and complete switches that I can’t even tell who the characters are anymore. There’s a difference between “development” and “oops I didn’t like how I wrote them in the first 2 books so they’re gonna be totally different”. *rolls eyes*

Most of these are still on my TBR – I wish I could get anywhere close to your 200 a year! I completely agree with your ToG thoughts, though. I did enjoy HoF and even QoS but then the more I thought about it the more dissatisfied I got and now the hot mess that EoS seems to be has put me right off. And the fated soulmates thing again? Really? So basically my favourite book in the series is now completely pointless because nothing in it was real.

Agh, fated soulmates on TOP of all of that?!? *winces* I just think it was dumb how she and Choal promised their hearts to each other but LOL @ HIM when she finds a cooler more powerful fairy to frolic about with. *rolls eyes*

Thank you 🙂 I’m always a little nervous about trampling on that ground…

And, yes, you said it. The elitism. Now she’s a cool, important, powerful fae queen she must have a fae prince to match. Arrrgh! And after half of the thing about CoM was her getting so angry about everyone who thought he wasn’t good enough because he was just captain of the guard. See, this is what I meant about pretty much unwriting the whole of CoM. And it was my favourite. It got me writing again. So it hurts, dammit.

The stupid thing is, I actually kinda liked the soulmates thing in ACOMAF – not that I’m blind to the faults in that series, either – but it kinda fit that world? ToG, not so much. And after she made them carranam and he took the blood oath – seriously, are they not bound together enough? Is anyone allowed a bit of free will in their relationships here? I haven’t read EoS, but I’ve read so many spoilers it kinda feels like I have!

It’s like CoM didn’t even happen?!? Plus I got annoyed when Chaol was then shipped with Nesryn (or whatever her name is) because it’s like “oh here is someone more in your league”. Ugh. 🙄🙄 I just feel so betrayed and saaaaad. 😭

I did not play well with The Sin Eater’s Daughter, either. I did request the second book because I wanted to see who it was knocking on the door at the end of TSED. The day I downloaded it I thought I would read the first couple of pages just to see who it was, but the story didn’t start there. However, I started reading and I didn’t want to put it down. Ha! Which reminds me, I need to go back to it. Although loving the first chapter does bit mean I will love the book. Ha ha. XD I was told the story isn’t about the characters in the first book.

Oh that’s awesome that the sequel is better!! I’M GLAD. I probably won’t get to it myself though. 🙈🙊 Unless I suddenly spontaneously reach the end of my TBR and haha that ain’t happening unless I achieve immortality. Which, ya know…I’m working on.

I’m COMPLETELY with you on the TOG series. I just can’t anymore. I’m pretty sure I’m not even going to try Empire of Storms. There’s like a .5% chance. Maybe if I run out of books at my house and I’ve recently read my favorites. Also Red Queen was too basic to me. There wasn’t a whole lot of originality there.

Well, you just obliterated my tbr. J/k. I still read books you didn’t necessarily like because, well, you’re you and I’m … somebody else. Anyway, always read your newsletters; love your style and snarkisity (I think that’s one of your words, just saying). If you don’t mind me asking, what are your professional goals for the future? I have tremendous faith in your unparalleled success. 😀

That’s EXACTLY TRUE!! I don’t ever want to say to someone “don’t read this book!!” because we are all so different and blogging (in my opinion) is just about putting thoughts out there, not telling people what they should/shouldn’t read.😂

Aw, thanks! I’m glad you like my blog! I suppose my goals for the future are to become a famous author and also eat a sandwich for lunch. #priorities

The Mortal Instruments. I love everything else written by Cassandra Claire, but the Mortal Instruments is a #nope for me. I agree with Ruin and Rising too! I felt like the Shadow and Bone series just got worse as the books went on. But the Dregs are the best!!!! All sci-fi books trick me with their pretty covers. I always think oh, that’s pretty maybe I’ll like it. I always forget I hate sci-fi in the moment. Until I start it and I’m like, “THIS. IS. SO…borrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnnggggg!”

I actually loved Siege and Storm the MOST but Shadow and Bone was just so-so for me and then Ruin and Rising left me in a disgruntled heap.😂 THE DREGS MAKE UP FOR IT THOUGH OMGGGGG. I love them so much I may shriek. And sci-fi and I rarely get along either.😂I get confused?!? And everyone seems to just make their aliens Vulcan and I don’t get how that’s not plagiarism.😂

I have so much love for this post. Especially with regards to the Red Queen! So much hype, so little delivery! You’re so gosh darn right on about the tropes and cliches! I think I guess every (gasp) plot twist. Happy to learn I’m not the only one who felt this way! Thanks for another funny post.

I can’t stand when people hate on others for having different opinions, hello if we all thought the same then you would agree with me because I’m right 😉 haha just kidding , that would seriously be the most boring thing in the world.

I was super pumped for Never Never by Brianna R Shrum and then #letdown , I only kept it because of the beautiful cover that is all. Also Annexed by ……. Someone obviously but my brain is just saying nope, much like I did with the book.

Yessss. Like wait are you a villain or a grown man child , because you cry more then my baby nephew! Plus I was not a fan of the romance like I signed up for an adventure and pirates being pirates, but what I got was some hormone driven teenage drama 😂
Please tell me Unhooked is better , I don’t think I can read another disaster like Never Never .

I KNOW, RIGHT?!? And honestly I haven’t read Unhooked but I own it…I was just so disappointed by Never Never that I’m terrified of Peter Pan retellings.😂 Which is dumb because I usually loooove them. Have you read Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson?! It’s really beautiful!!

I’ve heard of it but haven’t read it yet. I will have to give it a try 🙂 Have you ever read any fairytale retellings by Melanie Dickerson? I’ve read two and liked them , especially merchants daughter, which is the retelling of beauty and the beast( which is my favorite fairytale).

Firstly, the bread analogy. You are a crusty loaf, you are. Also, I have met way too many loaves of gluten free bread that fit your description perfectly. Secondly, oh my gosh problematic romances just stop, please. Having not read the books, I can’t comment on what’s in them, but it bothers me it’s so easy for you to find almost 10 books that disturbing romances. And it’s YA for goodness’ sake! Teenagers are all ready prone to having low standards in relationships, don’t make it worse by painting abuse/miscommunication as “hot”! Please and thank you, authors/publishers.

Whoa, the first time we’ve disagreed in a very long time – I’m sad you didn’t like Ember! I loved that one. But Red Queen and The Novice, UGH. I hated both of those. I DNFed Sin Eater’s Daughter. And Mistborn – so the second book is EVEN WORSE?! Yikes. I was going to try again on Mistborn but now probably not haha. YES TO THRONE OF GLASS. I loved the first two but HoF was a major struggle. Like I’d rather spoon my eyes out and feed them to my dog struggle. The ONLY thing keeping me going at this point is Manon and Abraxos!

Oh noooooo are bookish twinness FAILS US.😂 Although to be fair, didn’t you DNF Six of Crows? And I adore that series.😂 So we can just be like 90% bookish twins haha. AHH I’M SO GLAD I’M NOT ALONE WITH FALLING OUT OF LOVE WITH THRONE OF GLASS THOUGH!! I didn’t even really feel invested in Manon’s life??! I’m so annoyed gahhhh. I want to love all the fantasy but yet NOPE.

Yeah, I completely agree with you on The Sin-eater’s Daughter, it was super boring, and I despised the Love triangle, especially the Prince (he’s supposed to be the good one here and I found him to be a super emotionally manipulative arse-hat), I know the twist at the end was supposed to make it interesting but I was like “You are too late to redeem this book, I have absolutely no emotional investment whatsoever” Perhaps I am also an emotionless piece of Bread at times? Ah well

Love triangles are sooo tedious. *cries* And I agree about the prince. Although like all the details are hazy for me because I REMEMBER SO LITTLE AFTER 3 YEARS.😂 But we can be emotionless bread together. *hi fives*

OH MAN. There are so many series on here that I have on my unread bookshelves. Kind of nervous. But, I think you provided a real good context here.. I am an emotional panda, who cries if a PLANT looks at me weird. I think Ember in the Ashes will be kind of a tough one for me to read, because I cringe at violence. I can’t even. Freaking the Sin Eater’s Daughter has no EATING?! I mean, I guess, but I was hoping she’d eat at some point. Hm..I am okay with that, I guess.

…I already know that my ship won’t sail in the Grisha trilogy and I haven’t even read the first book yet. *Hides the Darkling and Alina* What? I took nothing.

Omg “emotional panda who cries if a plant looks at me weird” is my new favourite descriptor.😂 But YES Ember in the Ashes is extremely violent, and like normally I am ALL FOR stabby books, but in that one it seemed really pointless and illogical??

I wasn’t particularly impressed by The Red Queen, either. It sounded so promising, especially because I love books with political intrigue, but then, as you note, it reads like a mash-up of all the other dystopian books out there. That book really convinced me the end of the dystopian trend was upon us since we’re apparently really out of new material.

I felt it hard to choose just ten of these. Which is why I chose 12, and then STILL left out a ton. UGH the disappointment level, So I felt the same as you about Heir of Fire. I loved Crown of Midnight- LOVED. And then HoF had me just…. drowning in my own boredom? Can that be a thing? Because it is. Anyway, then we get to QoS, and I am still in the boredom pit, only for MORE pages this time. WHY? And why do I STILL somehow feel like it is necessary for me to read Empire of Storms or whatever? What is wrong with me?

Same in regards to 100 Days of Cake. Most of the cakes sounded gross, and TASTED gross too. (According to our MC, but as we all know, her taste wasn’t the best anyway- creepy therapist, anyone?) I did love The Sin Eater’s Daughter though 😉 I remember when you first hated that and I loved it and I was thinking “CRAP, Cait will never trust me again” 😂 And An Ember in the Ashes… I have mixed feelings about. I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, but I also barely remember it and should probably read some spoilers for it and then book 2. As you do.

OH! And I liked Assassin’s Heart, BUT I agree wholeheartedly about the masks! I asked myself that too- why even bother!? Now you’re hot, under some goofy mask, and everyone STILL KNOWS YOU.

What is wrong with you, Shannon.😂 Just quit on the series! haha. I am not reading Empire of Storms and I feel like going back to edit my reviews and actually say my REAL thought sand not what I thought I should be thinking?!? (I was an impressionable reviewer back then omg.) But at the same time I feel like I shouldn’t do that unless I reread and I have 0% intention of doing that.😂 I vaguely want to know how it ends though, so maybe I’ll go find some spoilery reviews once the last book comes out!

AGH YES 100 DAYS OF CAKE SHOULD BE PUT IN THE CORNER OF SHAME FOR HOW MUCH IT WASTED GOOD CAKE. Like how can I even read a book where they’re making bad cake???? It’s like Long May She Reign all over again. I feel personally STABBED IN THE HEART.

Omg I’m glad I’m not alone in laughing at the masks. Where was the logic.😂

oh an ember in the ashes, throne of glass and assassin’s heart were so disappointing! i feel like throne of glass and an ember in the ashes are WAYYY too overhyped to the point where i expected too much and ultimately felt quite disappointed! but great post cait!

I definitely agree! The hype is INSANE and I actually find the ToG fandom quite scary in their enthusiasm and zero tolerance for anyone with a different opinion?!? (I mean not ALL of them are like that…but there are some crazy fans out there.😂)

Dude. I LOVE THIS post, this is amazing! There are SO MANY books I read that I could rant like this about. It mystifies me when people can’t tell me a book they don’t like, I feel indifferent or disappointed in so many books!

I so totally agree with Ember in the Ashes! It just wasn’t my thing at all!! Also THE SHIP SUNK!! Ruin and Rising… the ending just didn’t sit right with me either – especially because the ship sunk! I actually like the Red Queen series and the ToG series 🙂

*hi fives* We are a small club but WE ARE STRONG AND WILL REMAIN STEADFAST!!😂

I know right?!? Like what does it even matter?! These are just stories…and yet people can so personally offended by them omg. Like if you find someone who hates a book you love, the easiest thing to do is NOT read the review and just move on!!😂

Sex with her cousin. Well that escalated quickly. I do love the series, I think because it started out so mild and it pushed me into reading more fantasy as well. Apart from Ember and Red Queen, the rest I completely agree with too. And so many pretty covers wasted on bland, boring and confusing books. That’s the real travesty here. I feel like I want to read Assassin’s Heart now simply for the stupid assassin 😀

C’MON THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED!!!😂 Ahem. But I’m glad you still like it! Because fantasy is good *nods* Although I just realised this post is like 90% me hating on fantasy whooops.😂 I really do love fantasy I PROMISE.

Oh my gosh, you’ve just made me feel so vindicated! I went into An Ember in the Ashes thinking that I was going to love it too but then I didn’t. I found it just so boring and I still don’t understand why people go crazy over it. It’s so dang boring! I gave the series a second chance when the second book came out (lol) but it was just as boring and had the added annoyance of deus ex machina-esque things and just…no.

All of the people who steal your work and throw shade at you and are just such HATEFUL MELONS (probably cantaloupes. I can’t ABIDE cantaloupe) give me such DANGEROUSLY VIOLENT IMPULSES. Like I read about them hating and shading and stealing and being general overripe pineapple fronds, and I just. want. to. HIT. THINGS. Them. Something. I want to drag them down a dark alley and make them pay because HOW DARE THEY ATTACK MY PRECIOUS BEAN SHE IS A LOVELY CREATURE FOR SHAME YOU KUMQUAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow! You embarrass the Paper Fiends and are hereby excommunicated forever and have earned our undying enmity. And you’d better pray to all the saints that we do not meet anywhere remote at night BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT LIVE. #ProofWeAreNotAHiveMind #IfIMeetYouIWillStingYou #YouWillRegretEverything
P. S. Do not listen to them you are are amazing never stop being awesome. #WeLoveYouCait #YourFiendsAreHereForYou

I agree about Red Queen, I’m listening to King’s Cage atm and really struggling to enjoy it, it’s just taken bits from The Hunger Games, The Grisha Trilogy and so many other popular series and cobbled them together with hardly anything new to add 😕 I really wanted to like it to cos so many people do. I like The Grisha Trilogy but I have to agree with you about the wrong ship sailing. It was such a let down ending 😠 On the other hand, I love Throne of Glass and The Sin Eater’s Daughter (despite recognising the issues you have highlighted), I just find them enjoyable reads 😆 can’t wait for both finales this year! Lyndsey x

Yes! That’s how I felt with Red Queen (so I’m not sad I’m not reading on haha) it just feels wholly unoriginal.😂 Mal was such a moody melon though!? I was so tired of his drama and then HE got to be the endgame? LIKE WHAT IS THIS LIFE. I LOVE NIKOLAI!!

Your reaction to the cake book is hilarious😂😂 also, did something like that really happen on Twitter? Omg what is the problem of people? I just can’t ugh😢😳 I have pretty much given up on Sarah J. Maas. I am currently reading ACOMAF and I hate it, plus the thing that was hilarious was that Feyre and Rhys have sex, and it is described as mountains were roaring at that time. Why make such a big deal of it? I was expecting the author to write that after the mountain roaring thing, a Big Bang took place in the Night court. (Shh I know I am funny plus this comes from studying too much Physics) I hated ACOTAR, it was awful and sexist, plus nope I am never gonna forget how Dorian and CHAOL were trashed. #mybabies Aaand, I haven’t read Ember yet, I have both the books on my Kindle, it is taking a lot of time to decide lol. (*Suddenly remembers that is kind of currently reading 7 books so bye bye new books*)

Omg the MOUNTAINS are roaring while they have sex?!?? 😂 That’s so absurd it’s hilarious?!? I’m glad I quit after ACOTAR honestly haha. I’m completely done with her books. And yES it’s sexist!! And I hate how her books are revered for “strong female heroines” but they’re really actually very sexist, also very white and kill of the POC characters and I have 0% tolerance for how Choal was just diteched from the series after the end of QoS when that-thing-happened-to-him. AGH.

Assassin’s Heart was so mediocre. I was so tempted to toss it at the well but luckily I didn’t because I was reading it off my ipad, ha.

And yeah, TOG. It’s a problematic fave of mine. And while a diversity of opinion is always good, I do think that that doesn’t mean blindly ignoring the racism/ableism. Which many superfans tend to do. (And admittedly, which I didn’t even pick up at first until I read critical reviews later on.)

I’m glad you didn’t chuck your iPad.😂😂 But YES. Mediocre is the best descriptor for it. Sooo sad. And I’m totally cool with people liking ToG. I think you can like a potentially problematic series just fine so long as we’re not blindly defending it right?! I have to be careful with some of my other favourite series that are a bit whitewashed too. I still love them, but I acknowledge the faults.

I really liked Red Queen, but I’m nervous that the series is going downhill a bit. I don’t know—we shall see. The only others of these I’ve read were Sin Eater’s Daughter (which I liked more than I expected to, but I had low expectations) and Assassin’s Heart (which was okay, but nothing to write home about. Especially since I am home, so that would just be silly.)

I totally feel the same. I want to read ALL the books because I don’t want to miss out. Also I have this there where even if I am not really enjoying a book and it is taking me weeks to get through I have to keep reading. I have DNFd like one book in my life and I actually need to start being more selective with what I read.

Oh I’m sorry you didn’t like An Ember in the Ashes Cait!! But I totally agree with you about ToG!! I LOVED the first two book! CoM was my favourite and then the series took a 360 degree turn and characters became weird..While I’ve read all five books, i know I’m not a fan or anything..I read them just coz I hate to leave things unfinished :/

And people on the internet can be total grapes at times.. They don’t understand that peeps can have different opinions!! We’re not robots guys!!

I hate unfinished books but I’m SO down with unfinished series.😂 I’m terrible with that haha. But I really truly loved the series before Heir Of Fire…then it totally just lost me. Everyone is so two-faced and what’s the point of reading a book where the characters change personalities all the time?!?

Shhhhhh. 😂😂 I just…like I just have to be SURE they’re as bad at the end as the beginning. Hush my logic totally works.😂

And I should’ve known Mal/Alina would sail tbh…they always pick the safe/good/childhood sweetheart. Well FINE. This just leaves Nikolai to get a whole series for himself…preferably tag-teaming with Kaz to do something devious.

WOW WE ARE BASICALLY THE SAME PERSON. Except for The Well of Ascension. Though I admit, that book was slightly more boring than I wanted it to be. Agree to Sineater’s Daughter (man that ending was poop), agree to Winterspell, to Assassin’s Heart (DNFed it), especially to Ember in the Ashes which I’m so bummed about, though someone did say the second book was better. And yeah, I have the Throne of Glass series, most of the books anyways, but I cannot seem to get past the halfway point in Crown of Midnight. Boo.

HELLO MY LONG LOST SISTER FROM ACROSS THE GALAXIES. 😂 I’m glad I’m not alone for so many of these!! And I kind of heard the second Ember book was better, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get there. I’ve forgotten too much stuff in the first one anyway and I don’t have time for rereading a book I didn’t even like haha.

Hahaha, I love your sarcasm, lol. I’ve only read 3 books on your list: Red Queen (did NOT like). Ruin and Rising (liked quite a bit, but agree with your list of shortcomings), and the Throne of Glass Series (which I personally love, but TOTALLY get why you don’t). A couple of the others have been on my TBR for forever and I just can’t convince myself to actually go read them. Ha. Effort. And #Priorities. *shakes head*

I’d add Caraval to my list for this — I was so excited for it from all the hype and good reviews, and it just fell flat for me :/ It wasn’t BAD; it just wasn’t SPECIAL. And it NEEDED to be SPECIAL.

There’s too much to read right!?? 😂 But I’m totally okay with people loving ToG! I just…can’t.😂 And Red Queen…it just feels like a bit of a waste of oxygen when it just repeats what a dozen dystopians have already done. LE SIGH. I AM HARSH TODAY.

Agh, sadness about Caraval!! I haven’t read it yet but I did buy it because it was so pretty.

I just finished Ronit & Jamil on the train ride home from the Tor Teen event at Books of Wonder yesterday. Beautiful cover, great sounding plot (Romeo & Juliet retelling in modern Israel/Palestine). WHAT a disappointment. ;_; It got a solid 1 star and that hurt because I thought it was going to be so interesting.

I haven’t finished the Throne of Glass series yet, but I do know which diverse character death you’re talking about and that makes me made already. That person is my favorite character, so I’m reading the book slowly so I don’t have to deal with it too soon.

100 Days of Cake…I am so glad I read your blurb here first because I thought about getting this the other day and put it down, figuring I’d research it a little first. Who doesn’t like cake?! That’s blasphemy!

I already know Alina isn’t going to end up with my ship (my poor, Dark ship), so I know that’s coming. -_-

Omg that is awful!! I hate giving 1 stars, but alas it happens. 😭 The worst part about ToG is that there was ONE featured person of colour and….she just got offed. I just can’t help wonder if the author is a bit naive to do that in this day and age??

Haha, I didn’t even like the Darkling so I think I was a bit doomed the entire Grisha trilogy. Nikolai was my pick. 😍😍

I don’t even think I’ve met Nikolai yet. He doesn’t show up until book two, does he?

Re: SJM – that wouldn’t surprise me. It’s one of the most common complaints about her books, that they’re not very diverse. To my knowledge, she’s never acknowledged the comments/complaints/etc., unlike a lot of other authors that are more receptive to criticism.

1 star reads make me sad too. 🙁 Especially if they don’t really start out that way but end up that way. You get tricked and you feel betrayed!

OMG CAIT WHY DO YOU ALWAYS READ MY MIND?!? I was so disappointed with Winterspell (I agree, that book was quite boring, which is a shame because the premise was awesome), Red Queen (like you, I found this really unoriginal and cliche) and An Ember in the Ashes as well. 🙁 Sorry you felt let down by these, but then again, considering our twin tendencies I can’t say I’m completely surprised. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous post! <3

BECAUSE WE ARE TWINS, ZOE. JUST BORN IN DIFFERENT GALAXIES. SO OBVIOUSLY WE ARE IN UTTER AGREEMENT. And omg don’t worry…I have 0% intention of reading anything in the Red Queen series further haahah. Life is too short to waste being frustrated.

And yeah…I know right?!? They weren’t even teens, so I really can’t even with the levels of immaturity there. It happened back in January but it was quite shaking tbh to know such hate could come against a person for just not liking a book.😳 I’ll get over it though!! I know SO many lovely people here so that cancels out all the silly haters. 💕💕

Omg good. I’m not alone.😂 And like it’s not a bad thing for us, because we have EXCELLENT TASTE and we don’t want to see the same tropes/mistakes all the time right?!? I think YA is the best genre buuuuut, it does have a lot of slack books in it.😂 But then doesn’t every category?!?

Cait, I’m just going to peacefully put aside the fact that you hated my all-time favorite (and most perfect) book in the world a.k.a. Ruin and Rising and move on to the part of this post that made me fall over with laughter in the middle of work hours (btw thanks for that, boss loved it lol)…

“Well. It features a simply horrible assassin who spends chapter one telling me how GOOD SHE IS only to nearly die because SHE’S REALLY QUITE STUPID. I also fall apart at the bit where everyone was wearing masks to “protect their identity” but they all wore specific masks so you knew who they were. “Like oh there’s the tiger stripes, that’s uncle Bob!” WHY ARE WE WEARING MASKS THEN. It was just all rather tediously frustrating for me.”

^ OMG YESSSSSS. I cannot with this book. You literally nailed my feelings on the head, I am dying XD It was like a parody of a book.. so bad and ridiculous…

I feel the same way about Throne of Glass!!!! Thank god I thought I was the only one!! The first two books were amazing but I’ve stopped reading. I can’t take a new love interest every book or how she just tosses people aside. So nice to know I’m not alone with these feelings lol

WE ARE TOGETHER!! *hi fives* 😂 We of the minority opinion should probably stick together haha. I just really hate how Celeana uses people as disposable objects…it betrays everything I love about friendships and trust in books?!

I just wanted to say that I loved this post and laughed my head off. I like it when people wreck all the hyped books, if they think these books deserved it. Not that I don’t like some of the books, but an honest opinion is always nice.

There are so many good books out there in the world! I recently read Behind The Scenes which Shanti thought was super cute but was basically a fanfic about a girl who falls in love with a movie star then lets him pretend he’s dating her best friend, also a movie star, then gets upset about it and is stupid and then also her father has Stage !V melanoma but then lives. (Spoilers but please don’t read this)
Plus the cover was ugly.

That actually sounds really familiar?!? I know I’ve read a book called Behind the Scenes before but I’m not sure if it’s just the same title because I remember 0% of that book.😂 Just that I hated it hhaah.

I concur with being disappointed by The Novice and Red Queen, and Ruin and Rising to an extent (I still liked it, but it wasn’t an amazing epic conclusion). The others on your list I either haven’t read or they’re some of my favourite books (which is basically just ToG haha I understand your issues with it though)

I’m sure there are quite a few books I could add to this, but the only one that comes to mine at the moment is Reign of Shadows. Caraval could probably qualify in the fact that I wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be (I still really enjoyed it a tonne though)

Firstly – we’re going to have to agree to disagree on anything SJ Maas. 😀 Just saying. No unripe avocados here!

I actually did like AEITA.

I mostly agree with you on Assassin’s Heart (I mean really, they weren’t even CALLED Assassin’s so why is it in the title??)

Red Queen I enjoyed but Glass Sword? Fail.

I’m yet to read the Grisha series. SHHH!!

And the rest aren’t on my TBR and I’m not going to look too closely at the because that would be a real issue of TBR explosion and I’m not even sure I WANT those little children of disappointment there. 🙁

I thought I would love Beautiful Creatures… And yet… 🙁 That’s been one of my biggest disappointments lately. There’s obviously others that haven’t met up to expectations, but that was probably the worst fail I’ve had in a while.

I haven’t read any of these books, but I do have Ember in the Ashes, Red Queen, The Sin Eater’s Daughter and Throne of Glass to read. I’m a little put off them now? Haha! I’ll still probably give them a go, though.

Oh my god, I thought I was going to love Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones and Caraval by Stephanie Garber but noooope. I read one good book in between them (Strange the Dreamer is amazing!), but two books that bored me so close together wasn’t great. Especially as they were kind of long. I just didn’t pick them up so often to read. But ugh. It’s awful when a book is so disappointing!

Sorry you didn’t like all of these books, Cait! I cannot believe you lost so many followers and were attacked for not liking a book. That’s just ridiculous and so cruel. I’m sorry you had to experience that 🙁

You should! I mean, we all know all our tastes are really different, right?! So what I love/hate won’t be what everyone else does.😂

Awk, sadness that Caraval was a disappointment for you! I just bought it, darn. 😂 Although tbh, I’m not sad because it’s GORGEOUS so at least there’s that. And I can’t waaait to read Strange the Dreamer.😍 Everyone is raving about it so far!!

And yes, it’s still so befuddling to me. Especially when it was someone who advocates diverse books and like one of my problems was how Well of Ascension was white-washed and featured sexism. I mean, that’s just hypocritical of them! I really hate the mob mentality on twitter though agh.

I love that I haven’t read a single book on this list. That makes me so happy. But I am totally still going to read like half of them. Nothing like being told by one of your favorite bloggers than they hated something on your TBR. “Is it true?!” of *course* it’s true! But I must find out for myself.

My disappointments? Always hyped books. Anything by Patrick Ness (The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Rest of Us Just Live Here in particular. What’s up with that?). The Selection Series (barf). Divergent — I mean, what happened after book 1? Really, it all started to fall downhill in the final third of book two, but seriously…

That’s totally fine!! I would NEVER tell someone not to read a book. And honestly stuff that turns me off, might be just the thing someone else wants to read, right?!? Books are so subjective hehe.

Aww, I love Patrick Ness.😂 But I understand! Some of his books are very strange, although that’s why I love them haha. I also only read the first Selection book and while I liked it, I haven’t felt interested AT ALL to read more.😂

I have to admit I haven’t read a lot of theses books except the first two books in the throne of glass series. The first one was okay and I adored the second one, but have yet to read further to see if I will continue loving the series or not.

Initially I really wanted to read “Winterspell” (because SO MUCH YES to adding in some unusual re-tellings), but I’ve read some so-so reviews and now, I really don’t care. (Your comments on the cover = LOL!) Still want to read “Red Queen” though I’ve heard it’s too much of a mash up. It just sounds like an entertaining read, plus I loved “The Selection,” sooo…. I’ll risk it. 😉

If you haven’t read too many of the really famous YA books, then you might be fine with Red Queen!😂 It doesn’t really feel like the Selection so much though, but like there are influences. I do hope you like it though. It’s always more fun to like books, right?!

I feel you SO MUCH on Ruin and Rising. By far my least favourite of the three Grisha books. It was just one long JOURNEY book, but the journey wasn’t even interesting! Also what happened to the Darkling? NOT OKAY,

I also did not love The Sin Eater’s Daughter especially because it LIED TO US ON SO MANY LEVELS. There was no sin eating, and girl didn’t even kill people with her touch. What. Even.

Assassin’s Heart had some aspects that I did quite like, but I swear to god the MC made the most ridiculous decisions for someone who was supposed to be the baddest badass in badass town *sigh*

I honestly don’t even know what to do about the Throne of Glass books anymore. Empire of Storms has been sitting on a box since before ti was published and I just have no desire to read it. Mainly for the reasons you mentioned. Also because if I reviewed it I would mention the utter lack of diversity and then get hate for it. Because that’s how SJM fans work :’)

Tbh my heart is for Nikolai. <3 😍 But ugh yes, the rest was so disappointing and I shall cry. I didn't even really care about Alina in the end because she didn't even do anything?!? And AGH TO THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER LYING OT US. The plot twist was so disappointing.😂

Omg and aren't SJM fans kind of terrifying?!? I'm too scared to be too vocal about how problematic they are. And like the fact that Celeana doesn't treat other women well and people say the book is feminist?!? EXCUSE ME WHILE I CHOKE.🙄🙄 I'm not reading Empire of Storms hhah. Although if I see a spoiler review for the finale, I might check it out.

I have students who enjoy THE GRISHA series, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. But from the chatter I hear, you aren’t the only one upset with the torpedo hit your ship took. Because teenagers complain loudly, creatively, and with much hand waving until I have coffee in my hand. I tried to hid behind a middle schooler when I saw two of my girls speed walking across the library with my coffee cup.

Second books in trilogies often let me down, I am almost afraid to read second books if I loved the first one. The second Bones Of Faerie book was a real stinker, the second Tearling book, the second Internment Chronicles book, the second Splintered book… I could go on and on. Ha! I have not read the third Internment Chronicles title, but with all of the others (even the unnamed ones, the third book was great. 🙂

I completely get your sentiments about ToG. I LOVED the first 2 books and how Celaena and Chaol slowly turned to friends and then lovers, it was so organic and beautiful and I shipped them hard. But then Nehemia dies for no freaking reason, Chaol is disposed off and made to be a “bad guy” and worst of all, there’s Rowan, the most boring character I’ve ever read about (nah I’m being overly dramatic, but then again he was pretty damn boring). It was painfully obvious how in love SJM was with his character but there’s so much cringe regarding his and Aelin’s relationship… I mean, they are related (and no one ever addresses that, wtf?), they are bonded and soulmates and there’s a blood oath and I dunno how many more things that tie them together and it was just so unhealthy and cringeworthy. Also, Aelin turned into an unbearable brat and she would make an awful queen, I already feel bad for Terrasen. I don’t feel any desire to continue reading the series :/

I AGREE 5000%, MY FRIEND. I am so mad that the books are all like “yes let’s kill of the sole POC women who was actually interesting and complex, and also turn a good guy into a bad guy for no reason”. I still don’t know what Choal did wrong?? He went to save Celaena so = he is now evil?? I DON’T GET IT AT. ALL. And no one seems to care that Rowan/Celaena are related. I’m so grossed out. 😝😝 So yes, I basically hate who she’s turned into as Aelin. As Celeana, she cared about her friends, her dog, her love. And what about all that trash she told Chaol about him being her home and her stars and etc. etc.??? 😭😭

Yay for posts living their own little lives in my inbox! Since February!

100 days of cake. I can just see how Cait would NEVER just not pass a book with a name like that. I also can’t see it NOT being a disappointment, cause having a name like that really sets you up already 😀 it’s never gonna be like cake! When will you learn, Cait? 😀

Someone started a hate thread? :0 oh man, why do people do that. They really need to grow up. Me and you have like 5% books and book genres overlap even, but that would never get in the way of me being your friend or enjoying what you have to say. I just don’t get people sometimes.

Actually, it’s funny that I clicked on this post exactly today, out all my “dead under the lost emails” newsletters. Because I just wrote a post about this book I was also super hyped up about (LOOK, IT’S GOT RAINBOW CODED SECRET LIBRARIES, TRAINS AND CAAAAAKE) and it was such a collossal let down! Post in the luv. It was such a disappointment, I have to say I feel quite terrible when I realize I don’t like a book about all those amazing things :/ gah! SUCH a strange feeling.